Martial Arts News

Nassourdine Imavov has gradually been building an impressive resume over the course of the past year.

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That work culminated in a surprising second-round stoppage of ex-champ Israel Adesanya in the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. While Imavov was pleased to vanquish an opponent who ruled the middleweight division for years, he’s taking the victory in stride.

“To be honest, it’s just another victory,” Imavov said through a translator at the post-fight press conference. “A fight is a fight. Obviously, it feels great to beat someone who’s a legend of the sport.”

In addition to Adesanya, Imavov has bested the likes of Brendan Allen, Jared Cannonier and Roman Dolidze during a run that began in February 2024. The Frenchman believes it’s more than enough to have earned himself a crack at middleweight gold. Conveniently enough, the title will be on the line next Saturday when Dricus Du Plessis faces Sean Str…

It wasn’t what Israel Adesanya envisioned as he prepared to regain momentum in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

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The former middleweight champion suffered his third consecutive defeat in the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner, falling to Nassourdine Imavov via second-round technical knockout on Saturday at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While “The Last Stylebender” appeared poised to return to form against a rising contender, it wasn’t meant to be.

“Disappointed,” Adesanya said on the ESPN post-fight show. “I hate disappointing my fans and my team. My team’s still proud of me for the work that I put into this. It’s just the thrill and agony.”

According to Adesanya, only those entrenched in the sport will truly understand what it means to be on wrong side of such a defeat. Those who haven’t competed will only be left to speculate.

“I don’t think it’s for them to know. You have to really be in it to know,” Adesanya said. “It’s only a priv…

Sharabutdin Magomedov came up short in a tactical battle against Michael Page in the UFC Saudi Arabia co-headliner, but it turns out that the Dagestani striker might not have been fighting in peak condition.

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“Shara Bullet” suffered his first defeat in 16 career outings on Saturday, dropping a unanimous verdict to Page at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Afterward, the 30-year-old released a statement on social media explaining the adversity he faced in the middleweight bout.

“The pirate sails into the harbor, but I will return,” Magomedov said. “I knew all the risks when stepping in with such a nightmarish health condition and preparation. I felt that despite everything, I could still win—but it didn’t work out, and that’s it.

“Thank you to the UFC organization for this opportunity and to everyone involved. I wanted to put on a show and meet expectations without canceling the fight. Thank you to everyone who stands by me in any situation! A…

Vinicius Oliveira is intent on a showdown against Umar Nurmagomedov.

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Oliveira scored the biggest upset of the night against Said Nurmagomedov (18-4) with a come-from-behind unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 250 at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Oliveira subsequently called out the recent title challenger, who hails from the same region as Said — although they aren’t related.

Oliveira had no second thoughts while issuing a callout to Umar in his post-fight Octagon interview. “LokDog” even went a step further, claiming the Dagestani contender is scared to face him.

“I’ve been talking some bad things about some guys from Dagestan. It’s part of the game,” he said. “It’s just business. I have only one specific guy from Dagestan to fight – his name is Umar Nurmagomedov. If he have courage to face me, I’m here. And if Dana [White] allows this fight, I’m here to fight against Umar Nurmagomedov, but I think he’s scared of me.”

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A clash of middleweights has been added to UFC Kansas City.

Michel Pereira (31-12) will take on Abusupiyan Magomedov (27-6-1) at 185 pounds on April 26 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The matchup was first reported by Ag.Fight and was subsequently confirmed by Pereira on social media.

Pereira moved up to middleweight in 2023 despite being on a five-fight winning streak at welterweight. “Demolidor” was unbeaten in three middleweight outings before suffering a fifth-round TKO loss against Anthony Hernandez in his most recent outing this past October.

Meanwhile, Magomedov joined the UFC in 2022 and has since gone 3-2 in the promotion. The Russian’s losses came against top-tier competition in Sean Strickland and Caio Borralho. “Abus” is coming off consecutive wins over Warlley Alves and Brunno Ferreira in 2024.

Bryce Mitchell has retracted his controversial comments about Adolf Hitler.

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A vocal flat earth theorist, Mitchell is known for his often-absurd opinions on a variety of topics. “Thug Nasty” managed to spark up controversy yet again in the very first episode of his Arkansanity podcast, when the UFC featherweight labeled Hitler a “good guy” while going on an antisemitic and transphobic rant.

Mitchell more recently issued a statement apologizing for his insensitivity towards Holocaust victims in his comment. The 30-year-old made clear that he is not a Nazi and doesn’t stand by any of Hitler’s actions during the Holocaust. Mitchell also vows to be more sensitive while addressing those who have suffered in future.

“I'm sorry I sounded insensitive,” Mitchell wrote on Instagram. “I definitely was not trying to offend anybody, but I know I did. I know that a lot of people died in the Holocaust, and that's a fact. Hitler did a lot of evil things, I thin…

Nassourdine Imavov is $50,000 richer for vanquishing a legend.

The Frenchman received a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his second-round technical knockout of Israel Adesanya 30 seconds into Round 2 of the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner on Saturday at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Imavov rocked his foe with an overhand right and then sealed his surprising triumph with a barrage of follow-up punches near the cage.

Elsewhere, Vinicius Oliveira and Said Nurmagomedov earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their featured bantamweight clash. In a bout that saw both combatants trade willingly, it was Oliveira’s ability to mix in effective grappling that secured him a unanimous nod on the scorecards.

Finally, Bogdan Grad garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check thanks to a technical knockout victory over Lucas Alexander at featherweight. After surviving a difficult opening stanza, Grad rallied to put his foe away wit…

pic.twitter.com/8M2y2Pl9Vb

— Fights (@FIGHTZSS) February 1, 2025 “The Sniper” has just bagged some huge game.

Capping of what was on paper an excellent offering from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Riyadh, Saudi, Arabia, the two men in the main event made sure to leave a lasting impression. Riding the first losing streak of his career, Israel Adesanya (24-5, 13-5 UFC) looked to bounce back in his first non-championship headliner in years. Standing his way was rising French talent Nassourdine Imavov (16-4, 1 NC; 8-2, 1 NC UFC), a worthy test for the ex-champ but one many prognosticators expected he would surpass comfortably. That was not meant to be, as Imavov punched his ticket to massive opportunities by shocking “The Last Stylebender” in the second round, scoring the flash knockdown and forcing referee Marc Goddard to step in.

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As the fight began, Adesanya looked every bit of his former self, showing that at the …

Sherdog's live UFC Saudi Arabia coverage will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 250. Round 1 Heavyweights kick off festivities at the anb Arena, where the unbeaten Abdelwahab (5-0, 0-0 UFC) returns to the cage for the first time since July 30, 2022 to lock horns with Pogues (11-4, 2-1 UFC). Chris Tognoni draws the officiating assignment. Glove touch gets us going. Abdelwahab takes the center of the cage and pushes his counterpart onto the back foot. They trade leg kicks, then exchange jabs. Not much action to start. Overhand right from Abdelwahab, followed by a takedown. Pogues builds a base to all fours and eats a series of punches and hammerfists. Pogues gets back to his feet, and they float into open space. Nice jab from the American. Abdelwahab already breathing heavily. The Egyptian scores with a leg kick, then eats a pair of jabs for his troubles. Two minutes to go. Pogues follows a one-two with a leg kick, then another. Abdelwah…

Outspoken Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters are having quite a week.

Former two-division champ Conor McGregor took to social media on Friday, attacking ex-foe Khabib Nurmagomedov while hurling racial slurs and other insults towards Nurmagomedov and his family. While the two had been going back and forth lately due to the performance of Usman Nurmagomedov over McGregor’s fellow countryman Paul Hughes, this briefly posted diatribe was deleted minutes after it went up.

“15 minutes I done [Jose] Aldo 15 seconds. Show yo wife n---a. Show yo kids n---a,” the Irishman wrote, with the screenshot of his post preserved by MMA Junkie. “Cousin f----n motherf----n hidin motherf----r. Show us you and your cousins kids together because we have kids here in Ireland that wanna smoke them in competition. Are they competing or what are you saying Ireland vs Dagestan? Where’s your offspring, we can’t wait to see them . The best of Dagestan offspring ? Dagestan, what do we think? Is…

The #UFCSaudiArabia main event is LOCKED IN ?@StyleBender weighs in at 185lbs!

[ Live TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 12pmET | @RiyadhSeason | #RiyadhSeason? ] pic.twitter.com/fpx1ucC6Fp

— UFC (@ufc) January 31, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Saudia Arabia with 11 fights that are all official following the UFC Saudi Arabia weigh-ins.

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This includes an intriguing main event featuring Israel Adesanya and Nassourdine Imavov. Both middleweight headliners successfully made weight for the five-round fight. As for the rest of the card, all fighters made weight with the exception of Lucas Alexander. The would-be featherweight came in 2.5 pounds over the limit for his fight against Bogdan Grad. Alexander will be fined a percentage of his purse as a result.

This marks the first non-pay-per-view headlining fight for Adesanya (24-4) since 2018. "The Last Stylebender" is coming off the first back-to-back defeats in h…

Ultimate Fighting Championship tweener Kevin Holland is opting to move back down to the weight he claims will make him more disciplined.

Per an initial report by social media user realkevink on Tuesday, Holland’s (26-13, 1 NC) relocation to 170 pounds will have him squaring off against jiu-jitsu ace Gunnar Nelson (19-5-1) at UFC London. The two will battle it out at the O2 Arena in London on March 22, with confirmation of the pairing coming on Thursday from multiple outlets. Per those outlets, the fighters have verbally agreed but the contracts have not been signed.

Holland competed four times in 2024, winning just once after getting dropped by Michal Oleksiejczuk and snaring a limb-snapping armbar. A decision loss to Michael Page, a corner stoppage defeat against Roman Dolidze and a quick rear-naked choke setback to Reinier de Ridder put the Texan’s back against the wall. As a pro, “Trailblazer” still presents a dangerous finish rate of 85%, with each of his last s…